Investigators

Derek Hales, PhD

Derek joined the CHWR team as a Research Assistant Professor in 2008. He holds a Doctorate in Kinesiology from the University of Georgia, and has an extensive background in measurement, scale development, reliability and validity assessment, and structural equation modeling of psychosocial mediators of physical activity behavior. The focus of Derek’s work at this time includes both measurement of physical activity and determinants of physical activity behavior. Recent work has involved measuring environments (childcare and home) that influence young children’s nutrition and physical activity behavior. His professional interests include scale development, psychometrics, structural equation modeling and survey design. Derek currently contributes his measurement expertise to all current CHWR projects and grants.

Erik Willis, MPH, PhD

Erik joined the CHWR team in January 2019 as a Data Analyst. He holds a Doctorate in Exercise Physiology from the University of Kansas and a Master of Public Health in Epidemiology and Biostatistics from Yale University. His research interests include both public health and clinical approaches to understanding the beneficial effects of physical activity, weight loss, and decreasing sedentary time on a variety of health outcomes in both children and adults. More specifically, he is interested in understanding compensatory responses to initiating exercise and diet programs, use of technology for delivery and assessment of interventions, and exploring etiology of obesity related diseases.